Issel to discuss Lyndon Johnson, progress of racial justice

Dr. William Issel, professor of history emeritus at San Francisco State University and the John E. McGinty Distinguished Chair in History at Salve Regina, will present the spring McGinty Lecture, “The Great Society at 50: Lyndon Johnson and the Progress of Racial Justice in America” on Wednesday, April 6. Issel’s talk will be presented at 7 p.m. in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson launched an ambitious program to use federal government power to make sweeping reforms in American life. “The Great Society at 50” will explore Johnson’s historic achievements in civil rights and the subsequent 50-year political struggle to define and implement racial justice in the aftermath of the Great Society program.

Issel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from San Francisco State College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania.

He served as a Fulbright professor at the University of Westminster (formerly the Polytechnic of Central London) and the Laszlo Orszach Chair in American Studies at the University of Pecs, in Hungary. He taught in the history, humanities and urban studies departments at San Francisco State for 38 years, serving as coordinator of the American Studies program and associate chair of the history department.

Established in honor of the late John E. McGinty, former trustee and parent of John W. McGinty ’01, the McGinty Chair furthers the educational advancement of undergraduate students in the areas of American studies, cultural and historic preservation and history.